Saturday, August 4, 2012

By the author of the internationally bestselling biography The Orientalist, The Black Count brings to life one of history’s great forgotten heroes: a man almost unknown today yet with a personal story that is strikingly familiar. His swashbuckling exploits appear in The Three Musketeers, and his triumphs and ultimate tragic fate inspired The Count of Monte Cristo. His name is Alex Dumas. Father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas, Alex has become, through his son’s books, the model for a captivating modern protagonist: the wronged man in search of justice.

Born to a black slave mother and a fugitive white French nobleman in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), Alex Dumas was briefly sold into bondage but then made his way to Paris where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy.

He was only 32 when he was given command of 53,000 men, the reward for series of triumphs that many regarded as impossible, and then topped his previous feats by leading a raid up a frozen cliff face that secured the Alps for France. It was after his subsequent heroic service as Napoleon’s cavalry commander that Dumas was captured and cast into a dungeon—and a harrowing ordeal commenced that inspired one of the world’s classic works of fiction.

The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century France, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society. But it is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. Drawing on hitherto unknown documents, letters, battlefield reports and Dumas’ handwritten prison diary, The Black Count is a groundbreaking masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.

"Wasn't Sherlock Holmes the most subtle, the strongest among us? Aand if he was brought down, it was because he was dealing with terrible criminals, stronger then he was. Now what's more glorious than, in this case, catching Sherlock Holmes' killer? You're smiling? I'm a woman, that's true, but I have courage. I can go after Sherlock Holmes' murderers."

"And when do you begin, Miss Boston?"

"I've already begun."

Long before Charlie's Angels, Jessica Fletcher, Miss Marple, and even Judith Lee, there was Ethel Boston, the first female consulting detective in America, a former associate of Nick Carter, trained by famous detective William Hopkins.

Miss Boston was the prototype of the New Woman, who believed and fought for sexual and legal equality with men. She was educated, athletic and vigorous, and avoided marriage as it interfered with her self-fulfillment and independence. Miss Boston not only achieved equality, she surpassed it.

Created by Antonin Reschal (1874-1935), Miss Boston's adventures and those of her sidekick, Chief Inspector Sokes, ran through 20 installments published in Paris in 1908-09. This book collects eleven of her exploits, including the adventure in which she helps Dr. Watson catch Sherlock Holmes' murderer, and the saga of her battle against the One Hundred Thousand Arms Gang.

CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION BY NINA COOPERBIBLIOGRAPHYTHE MURDER OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE THE ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ARMS GANGTHE FATAL HANDSHAKE THE WOMAN WITH GREEN EYES THE MAGIC ELIXIR THE CAPTURE OF THE INVISIBLE MAN THE GROSVENOR PLACE MURDER THE SEVERED HAND THE ARIZONA RAPID TRAINTHE CHICAGO EMBALMED HEADS THE ASSOCIATION OF RIFLERS

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Bodie Kendrick had a reputation for being one of the most relentless bounty hunters throughout Arizona and New Mexico.

Doc Turpin, out of Texas, shared similar renown.

When the two of them partnered up to bring in the Harrup-Klegg Gang, it was the end of the trail for the bloodthirsty outlaws who had robbed the New Gleanus bank and then needlessly, mercilessly slaughtered innocents as they shot up the town riding away.

The gunsmoke from that encounter has scarcely cleared, however, before Doc is mysteriously lured away in the middle of the night by a rebelista firebrand known only as Estraleta. Troubled by his new partner's sudden and ill-explained departure, Kendrick pursues the pair in order to try and find out what is going on. His only clue is that they reportedly are bound for the notorious south-of-the-border town called Bordados.

Quicker than the rapid-fire discharge of a Gatling gun, Kendrick finds himself embroiled in a conflict between local rebels fighting to regain their town and a corrupt Rurale official backed by a wolf pack of American desperados who've found haven in Bordados and are hell bent on keeping it. Once again, Kendrick and Doc—along with the savagely beautiful Estraleta and a tormented former Confederate colonel—fight side by side against stacked odds.